New Zealand is a valued development partner for its small island neighbours, delivering aid effectively and using its experience of natural disasters to help manage risks in the region. It complements its development assistance by using liberal trade and employment systems to support poor countries, according to the OECD’s latest Peer Review of New Zealand.

Local policymakers have a critical role to play in developing more resilient and inclusive economies, particularly because they are well-positioned to take a more integrated approach to tackling complex challenges and seizing new opportunities. Playing this role effectively requires both sufficient local flexibility in national policies and adequate capacities at the local level.

The current low interest rate environment poses a significant risk for the long-term financial viability of pension funds and insurance companies, as they seek to generate sufficient returns to meet promises, according to a new OECD report.

The OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2015-2024 will be published on Wednesday 1 July. The report analyses agriculture production, discusses how global markets are reacting to price volatility in both food and commodity markets and looks at farm sector trends for the coming decade. A special chapter in this year’s report analyses the prospects for Brazilian agriculture and the challenges facing the sector.

Governments are under-utilising taxation as a tool to curb the environmental consequences of energy use, foregoing revenue and weakening their attack on the principal source of greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change and air pollution, according to new OECD analysis.

Government debt in many OECD countries is very high and likely to have adverse effects on economic activity. New OECD research shows how governments can set country-specific prudent debt targets and which fiscal rules will ensure hitting them.

In a historic visit by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to the OECD in Paris, the People’s Republic of China today decided to enhance longstanding collaboration with the OECD and to join the OECD Development Centre.

Strong crop yields, higher productivity and slower growth in global demand should contribute to a gradual decline in real prices for agricultural products over the coming decade, but nonetheless, prices will likely remain at levels above those in the early-2000s, according to the latest Agricultural Outlook report produced by the OECD and FAO.

The children of immigrants continue to face major difficulties integrating in OECD countries, especially in the European Union, where their poor educational outcomes leave many struggling to find work, according to a new OECD/EU report.

OECD annual inflation up to 0.6% in May 2015